If there experience on older systems is terrible, they
run the risk of people switching to a different operating
system and platform. If the experience isn't significantly
better on newer hardware, however, customers won't be
motivated to upgrade.
I'm certain the main engineering goal they have for Safari is energy efficiency.
Battery life is one of the two or three major selling points of all their devices, and improved (or at least equivalent) battery life is something they deliver with every iteration of OSX.
I believe Safari's performance/responsiveness is largely a happy accidental byproduct of this focus on energy efficiency.
Again, I'm not defending anything they do. I'm a OSX user and Firefox is my browser of choice, if that tells you anything!
Battery life is one of the two or three major selling points of all their devices, and improved (or at least equivalent) battery life is something they deliver with every iteration of OSX.
I believe Safari's performance/responsiveness is largely a happy accidental byproduct of this focus on energy efficiency.
Again, I'm not defending anything they do. I'm a OSX user and Firefox is my browser of choice, if that tells you anything!